Process for freeing slack coal from water.



G. SIMON.

PROCESS FOR FREEING SLAGK GOAL FROM WATER.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 6,1912.

Patented June 3, 1913.

COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH C0.,WASNINGTON, D. C.

CHRISTIAN SIMON, OF ESSEN-ON-THE-RUHR, GERMANY.

PROCESS FOR FREEING SLACK COAL FROM WATER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 3, 1913.

Application filed August 6, 1912. Serial No. 713,621.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN SIMON,engineer, a subject of the German Emperor, residing at Essen on theRuhr, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inProcesses for Freeing Slack Coal from I'Vater, of which the following isa specification.

Slack coals have hitherto been freed from water by means of a flow ofair; with the devices used heretofore, however, the trouble was feltthat the draining screens were not covered all over or not in a uniformlayer with the material to be drained. In consequence thereof the airescaped through the free apertures or passed only through scantilycovered spots whereas those covered more abundantly practically nevercame in contact with it. In using drums the additional inconvenienceexists that the upper strata are always mixed up again with the lowerones to which the moisture has gone. If, in using such devices, air,carrying dust-coal along is guided through the layer, there is still theliability of a great portion of the dustcoal being lost or, in usingdrums, of the dry dust coal being always immediately mingled up with thewet coal, this then drawing in moisture in excess. In order to avoidthese drawbacks the material is moved in such a manner over the screensand the like that the air made to pass across with a view to hurrying onthe drainage meets with an always evenly thick layer, thus passinguniformly through all the material and freeing it from water. Ifhowever, the slack coal to be drained were constituted of a mixture ofcoarse and line material the layer would be nearly impermeable to airand the forcing through of a flow of air would be rendered exceedinglydifficult. To avoid such a drawback the material is sorted into varioussizes of grains and deposited on the draining screen in layers in themanner in use with other draining systems, i. 6., preferably the coarsematerial at the bottom. More particularly the lower strata are nowexceedingly porous, and the flow of air can easily pass throughitentraining the moisture. The uppermost fine layer is, however, stillnearly impermeable to air; thus with a view to allowing the passage ofair, this layer is penetrated by means of pivot-shaped parts therebysecuring a certain guide for the air-stream. Such pivots may alsopreferably be constituted of pipes by means of which air is forced intothe stratum to be freed from water. In this way the drainage is hurriedon just as well, and the passage of the air through all the material tobe drained secured. In order further to increase the draining effect,the air and,. if necessary, the dustcoal, carried along thereby, iswarmed. Likewise a portion of the slack coal is drawn off in anyordinary manner with air conveyance with the draining air-stream to thelayer to be drained, the air then promoting the drainage and filteringof the dry dustcoal on the layer with resultant uniform admixture. Inthis manner devices for collecting the slack coal and specialarrangements for mixing this with the damp coal can be dispensed with.Likewise this dry coal is mixed up with the upper slime layer,impermeable to air, rendering the same more penetrable to air andcontributing in this way to the drying thereof. In addition, the dustcoal is deposited more abundantly where the flow of air is passing thelayer more quickly, having thus a regulating effect 011 the uniformdistribution of the air-stream.

In the accompanying drawing, in which the same letters refer to the sameparts throughout the several views, a form of construction isexemplified in Figure 1 which is a longitudinal sectional view. Fig. 2is a transverse sectional View.

The coal washed in wet condition is conveyed with water to the screens Sand S the coarser material, being delivered from said screens to thedraining screen so as to form the bottom of the layer thereon.

Due to the inclined position of the drain ing screen the coal glides ina continuous layer and in the primitive position of the stratum along onthe screen and is regulated in its movement by the scraping belt K.

The flap 1, to which a movement is imparted by the thickness of thecoal-layer, operates by means of a resistance Q on an electromotor R,the thickness of the layer deposited on the draining screen thus beingregulated by the altered movement of the scraping belt. Now firstthrough this layer pure air is drawn into the compartment I, and throughthe portion of the layer therein thus effecting a preliminary drainage.Thereafter air, carrying dustcoal along, that is preferably drawn fromthe slack coal, is conveyed into the compartment II, and through theportion of the layer therein the air then having a draining effect whilethe dust-coal is filtered off on the coal-stratum and added in this wayuniformly.

The pivot-shaped parts a plow up or push through the upper layer,impermeable to air, and have the form of nozzles; they introduce airinto the layer to be drained.

The total product of dry and wet coal is then intimately mingled up inthe screwconveyer O. The movement of the air is advantageouslyaccomplished by means of the water dropping through the draining screen,that is conducted through injection nozzles J.

The draining screen itself will be advantageously divided up and formedinto gutters by inclined side-walls, as shown in Fig. 2. Due to thecross sections growing narrower toward the bottom the resistance to airis nearly the same even though the charge be somewhat less; likewise bywarming the corresponding side walls drainage can be hurried on.

I claim:

A process for freeing slack coal from water consisting in forming andmoving the coal in an evenly distributed layer having the coarserparticles at the bottom, over a draining support, constantly looseningup the upper stratum of said layer and delivering air laden with driedcoal to said layer and passing the air through said layer.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

CHRISTIAN SIMON. [L. s]

lVitnesses HELEN NUFER, ALBERT NUFER;

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

